Raleigh, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Raleigh, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Raleigh lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Raleigh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Raleigh — the short answer
Raleigh, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- Smith County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Smith County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Smith County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Smith County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Raleigh's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Raleigh's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Raleigh
Each reading below is measured for Raleigh itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRaleigh runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Smith County, the closest normal to Raleigh) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRaleigh sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Raleigh is in
Raleigh sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Raleigh's own centroid rather than borrowed from Smith County.
What Grows in Raleigh
Every plant below cleared Raleigh's own zone 8b and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Raleigh?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Raleigh
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Raleigh. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Oyds Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Smith County Sheriff's DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Smith County Board Of SupervisorsUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Raleigh City HallUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 129K0002 SMITHNitrate · 1500 ft
- 129K0001 SMITHNitrate · 1500 ft
- Short Stop #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Puckett TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Blue Bird Gas/dieselUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Southern Tire CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- REMY REMAN LLC RALEIGHToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- The Raleigh CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Raleigh's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Raleigh.
Total Sites
58
within ~10 miles of Raleigh
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Raleigh
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Raleigh
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Raleigh, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Raleigh. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Raleigh
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raleigh average
Your land is one point inside Raleigh
Everything above resolves to Raleigh as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Smith County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Raleigh Average
Raleigh Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Raleigh
- ●One soil character for all of Raleigh
- ●Frost dates read at Raleigh's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Raleigh's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Raleigh
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Raleigh, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Raleigh averages can't show:
We read public map data around Raleigh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raleigh average
How we know this about Raleigh
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Smith County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Raleigh
When does frost risk typically end in Raleigh?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Raleigh typically lands around Mar 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 23.
When is the first frost in Raleigh?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Raleigh typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Raleigh?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Raleigh sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 7, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Raleigh?
The federal record around Raleigh shows 58 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Raleigh?
From about Oct 22 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Raleigh's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Raleigh's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Raleigh’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Raleigh's own scale — the 3,261 acres it covers and 58 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Raleigh's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 58 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Raleigh, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Raleigh's boundary and the 3,261 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Raleigh's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Raleigh has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Smith County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Raleigh's 3,261 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Smith County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Smith County
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Smith County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Raleigh's 3,261 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Raleigh you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,261 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Raleigh-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiRaleigh sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides